Why Helping is Good For You

Why Helping is Good For You

Helping others has always been likened to the spirit of selflessness. While helping the people around you certainly is noble, the recipients of your kindness are not the only ones reaping the benefits. Numerous studies and experiments have shown how helping others has a positive impact on you, making you a much better person in your personal and professional life. Here’s a few reasons as to why you should help your community more.

Feel Better About Yourself

The concept of happiness is interesting. While most people associate happiness with achievements of wealth and power, research shows that this only lasts for short periods. Small bursts of pleasure doesn’t lead to long lasting happiness. However, studies show that happiness lasts longer when helping friends, family and the people in your community. Research shows that show that as people donated more to charity, the portion of the brain responsible for feelings of reward – the mesolimbic system – was triggered. There’s even a word for this – the helper’s high!

Build Meaningful Relationships

Just like long lasting happiness, there’s a good likelihood that you’ll form meaningful connections and relationships by helping people around you. Simple gestures of kindness, like helping a student with their math homework, assisting an old lady with her groceries or providing career guidance to a professional, can go a long way in expanding one’s social and professional network. Having good relationships isn’t just about having a network to socialize with, but also to gain the support of during times of need. At the end of the day, we as human beings are prone to hard times, and having a good network to fall back on and get the support of can help us cope during hardships and distress.

Handle Stress Better

Studies have shown that people who partake in the act of help can manage stress better. This is due to the change in perception as people engage with their community members. As you interact more with the community around you, you will get exposed to different viewpoints, circumstances and situations, making you more accepting and grateful of your own situation. It makes us accepting of our own stress and hardships. It also grounds us in the reality that difficult times can affect any one of us, and it’s okay to reach out for help.

Good for Business

Today’s hyper aware and conscious consumer holds companies to high standards. According to a study by Cone Communications, 9 out of 10 consumers expect companies to contribute to the environment and society around them positively. Millennials hold the highest buying power, and are demanding more transparency in company actions. The term for a company’s focus on societal and environmental well being is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Apart from charity, ethical labor practises and environmental responsibility, a company’s engagement in voluntary activities in the community around them says a lot about their CSR. In today’s economy, businesses that do the best focus on not just their products and services, but also in solving the problems of the people around them.

Conclusion

Helping is good for you. Plain and simple. It benefits the society around you, and simultaneously makes you a better person. We at Community understand the importance of helping, and seeking help when in need, and are working towards an easy-to-use mobile platform that incentivizes doing good. Sign up here for our Beta program!